Blockchain-Based Social Media History Maps

ABSTRACT

A system may include a transaction history controller to store, in a distributed blockchain database, a first chain including a primary head node for a first subscriber to a social media history map service and multiple blocks each representing an online transaction for the first subscriber, and a second chain including a follower head node, linked to the primary head node, for a second subscriber and multiple blocks each representing an online transaction for the second subscriber. The transaction history controller may receive data representing a first online transaction for the second subscriber, format the data for the distributed blockchain database, store the formatted data as a new block in the second chain, receive a request to generate a trend report for a cluster of subscribers that includes the first and second subscribers, and generate the trend report dependent on the blocks in the first and second chains.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/616,625 entitled “Blockchain-Based Social Media History Maps,” filedJun. 7, 2017, now allowed, which is incorporated herein by reference inits entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to social media history mapsand more particularly to blockchain-based social media history maps.

BACKGROUND

Blockchains are generally digital data structures that facilitaterecording digital information. A blockchain may serve as a public ledgerfor transactions. Using cryptography, blockchains allow participants topublish digital information in a secure and immutable way. Morespecifically, blockchains are designed to be resistant to modificationof data once recorded and may not be altered retroactively.

Social media typically use web-based technologies, desktop computers,and mobile devices to create highly interactive platforms through whichindividuals, communities, and organizations can share, co-create,discuss, and modify user-generated content or pre-made content postedonline. Social media applications are software applications thatfacilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, careerinterests and other forms of expression via virtual communities andnetworks. These software applications may include social networkingapplications, networking websites for business or industry communities,or internet-based services for posting content that is visible to“followers” in real time, including blogs or other internet-basedforums. The information created or shared on social media applicationsis typically siloed by the application and/or platform on which it wascreated or shared.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment, a system includes a distributed blockchaindatabase. The distributed blockchain database includes a primary headnode for a first subscriber to a social media history map service, twoor more blocks in a first chain beginning from the primary head node,each block in the first chain representing a respective onlinetransaction for the first subscriber, a follower head node for a secondsubscriber to the social media history map service, and two or moreblocks in a second chain beginning from the follower head node, eachblock in the second chain representing a respective online transactionfor the second subscriber. The second subscriber is a follower of thefirst subscriber on one or more social media platforms, and the followerhead node is linked to the primary head node. The system also includesone or more processors having access to a memory subsystem. The memorysubsystem stores instructions executable by the one or more processorsthat, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to implement a transaction history controller. Thetransaction history controller is configured to format data representinga first online transaction made on behalf of the second subscriber forcompatibility with the distributed blockchain database, the datarepresenting the first online transaction being from a first socialmedia application, to store the formatted data representing the firstonline transaction in the distributed blockchain database as a first newblock appended at the end of the second chain, the first new blockrepresenting the first online transaction, and to generate, in responseto a request to generate a trend report for a cluster of subscribers tothe social media history map service, the trend report dependent on theblocks in the first chain and the blocks in the second chain. Thecluster of subscribers includes at least the first subscriber and thesecond subscriber.

According to another embodiment, a method includes storing, in adistributed blockchain database, data representing a primary head nodefor a first subscriber to a social media history map service, two ormore blocks in a first chain beginning from the primary head node, eachblock in the first chain representing a respective online transactionfor the first subscriber, data representing a follower head node for asecond subscriber, and two or more blocks in a second chain beginningfrom the follower head node, each block in the second chain representinga respective online transaction for the second subscriber. The secondsubscriber is a follower of the first subscriber on one or more socialmedia platforms, and the follower head node is linked to the primaryhead node. The method also includes receiving, by a transaction historycontroller from a first social media application, data representing afirst online transaction for the second subscriber, formatting the datarepresenting the first online transaction for compatibility with thedistributed blockchain database, storing the formatted data representingthe first online transaction in the distributed blockchain database as afirst new block appended at the end of the second chain, the first newblock representing the first online transaction, receiving a request togenerate a trend report for a cluster of subscribers to the social mediahistory map service, and generating the trend report dependent on theblocks in the first chain and the blocks in the second chain. Thecluster of subscribers includes at least the first subscriber and thesecond subscriber.

According to yet another embodiment, at least one non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium stores program instructions that whenexecuted by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors tostore, in a distributed blockchain database, data representing a primaryhead node for a first subscriber to a social media history map service,two or more blocks in a first chain beginning from the primary headnode, each block in the first chain representing a respective onlinetransaction for the first subscriber, data representing a follower headnode for a second subscriber, and two or more blocks in a second chainbeginning from the follower head node, each block in the second chainrepresenting a respective online transaction for the second subscriber.The second subscriber is a follower of the first subscriber on one ormore social media platforms, and the follower head node is linked to theprimary head node. When executed by the one or more processors, theprogram instructions further cause the one or more processors to formatdata representing a first online transaction made on behalf of thesecond subscriber for compatibility with the distributed blockchaindatabase, the data representing the first online transaction being froma first social media application, to store the formatted datarepresenting the first online transaction in the distributed blockchaindatabase as a first new block appended at the end of the second chain,the first new block representing the first online transaction, and togenerate, in response to a request to generate a trend report for acluster of subscribers to the social media history map service, thetrend report dependent on the blocks in the first chain and the blocksin the second chain. The cluster of subscribers includes at least thefirst subscriber and the second subscriber.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To assist in understanding the present disclosure, reference is now madeto the following brief description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of a systemfor implementing a blockchain-based social media history map service;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example social media history map data forestschematic, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example embodiment of a method forimplementing a blockchain-based social media history map service;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example embodiment of a method forregistering a social media account with a blockchain-based social mediahistory map service;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example embodiment of a method forcollecting social media histories from service subscribers;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example embodiment of a method forgenerating and publishing trend data by a blockchain-based social mediahistory map service; and

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of acomputing system of a social media history map platform.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In certain embodiments, a social media history map platform mayimplement a blockchain-based social media history map service on behalfof multiple service subscribers. The social media history map platformmay integrate blockchain transaction data accumulation into feeds fromsocial media applications. In certain embodiments, social media mayinclude computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation andsharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms ofexpression via virtual communities and networks. Social media servicestypically include interactive, internet-based social media applicationsthat allow users to create service-specific user profiles and to createand share content through online interactions with the services.

The information created or shared on social media applications istypically siloed by the application and/or platform on which it wascreated or shared. For example, if a user of multiple social mediaapplications wants information about current trends at a particulartime, information about the current trends at a particular location, orinformation about the behavior and activities of their friends, ingeneral, at a particular location, or at a particular time, thisinformation may not be available from a single media application. Ingeneral, the ability to track micro-culture transactions (i.e., aparticular social media account including followers) by location, timeand content may have enormous value in e-commerce, marketing, andtargeted advertising.

As described above, blockchain technology uses a distributed databasesystem with virtually tamper proof encryption schemes to create apermanent record of time stamped transactions. The social media historymap platforms described herein may take advantage of the immutable andpermanent nature of blockchain records to store, and provide access to,data representing online transactions that occur on multiple socialmedia applications. However, instead of passing ownership of blocks ordata between users, a social media account owner maintains primaryownership of his or her online transaction data. What passes from thesocial media account owner to other users of the social media historymap service, such as followers of the social media account owner, is anotion of elevated visibility rights.

In certain embodiments, the social media history map platforms describedherein may alter the traditional blockchain model to facilitate the useof temporary chain passwords, sometimes referred to herein as sharedownership visibility keys, to allow users other than the social mediaaccount owner to view a particular branch or sub-tree of the informationstored in a distributed blockchain database. For example, in at leastsome embodiments, the data and/or metadata within each block in thedistributed blockchain database may be encrypted such that it is notvisible to others unless they have been provided with a correspondingshared ownership visibility key. In certain embodiments, all of therecords stored in the distributed blockchain database may be minable atan aggregated and anonymous level. The visibility relationship betweenthe social media account owners and their followers may be establishedusing a two-way opt-in protocol for which the granularly isconfigurable. In certain embodiments, the granularity at whichvisibility is granted to the followers of a social media account ownermay be as narrow as an individual online transaction or as broad as theentire online transaction history for the social media account owner.

In certain embodiments, the systems described herein may be used toquantify a type of demographic profile for a cluster of subscribers to asocial media history map service, where the cluster of subscribersincludes a collection of social media account owners and their followerswho have established visibility relationships with each other. Suchclusters of subscribers may sometimes be referred to as “social mediaclusters.” In certain embodiments, once a user has registered a socialmedia account with the social media history map service, the serviceitself may act as a type of follower of that user, and may extract datarepresenting online transactions from feeds output by one or more socialmedia applications associated with the registered social media account.In such embodiments, the service may reformat the extracted data forcompatibility with the schema of the distributed blockchain database,such as for subsequent data mining operations, and may store thisinformation as a new block in a chain of blocks representing onlinetransactions for the user.

In various embodiments, the online transactions that are captured bysocial media application, and for which data is stored in thedistributed blockchain database, may represent any type of onlineactivity, whether the transaction is explicitly or implicitly made onbehalf of a user. For example, online transactions for which data isstored in the distributed blockchain database may include shoppingbehaviors, the posting of content, attendance at events, or simply thepresence of a user at a particular location. In general, any type ofbehavior or activity of a user may be captured as a “transaction” by asocial media application or a utility application executing on asubscriber device and represented by data in a block in the distributedblockchain database. In certain embodiments, when a transaction for aservice subscriber in a cluster of subscribers occurs or is detected bya social media application, and when data representing the transactionis pushed to the social media history map platform, the other members ofthe cluster may be notified automatically. In other embodiments, inorder to view information about transactions that have occurred for auser within a cluster of subscribers, the other members of the clustermay submit a request for information to the social media history mapservice.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of a system100 configured to implement a blockchain-based social media history mapservice. As described in more detail below, the social media history mapservice may integrate blockchain transaction data accumulation intosocial media feeds. Instead of transferring ownership of block in achain, as in a traditional blockchain implementation, the service mayconfer visibility rights to the blocks in a chain to one or more users.The result is a data forest that represents online transaction historiesin which a tree represents a social media account, and each branch ofthe tree represents the online transaction history of a follower of thesocial media account owner. An example of one such data forest isillustrated in FIG. 2 and described below.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, system 100 may include multiple users (such asusers 115 and 125), each of which is associated with one or moresubscriber devices (shown as devices 102 and 122, respectively) throughwhich the user and the user's social media applications interact withthe blockchain-based social media history map service. System 100 alsoincludes network 135, and a social media history map platform 140. Users115 and 125 may generally be users of system 100. More specifically,users 115 and 125 may be subscribers to a blockchain-based social mediahistory map service provided by system 100. While two users areillustrated in FIG. 1, system 100 may include any number of users. Eachuser may be a social media account owner who has followers on one ormore social media applications, a follower of a social media accountowner, or both a social media account owner who has followers and afollower of another social media account owner. In one embodiment, user125 may be a follower of user 115. In another embodiment, user 115 maybe a follower of user 125. Each social media account for a user may beassociated with one or more social media applications that are used bythe user.

Subscriber devices, such as subscriber devices 102 and 122, may be anydevices that a user of system 100 uses to operate and/or communicatewith other components of system 100. For example, subscriber devices 102and 122 may be any appropriate devices for sending and receivingcommunications over network 135. As an example and not by way oflimitation, each of the subscriber devices 102 and 122 may be a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, a wireless or cellular telephone, anotebook computer, a personal digital assistant, a tablet computer, orany other device capable of receiving, processing, storing, and/orcommunicating information with other components of system 100.

Each subscriber device may include some, none, or all of the componentsof computing system 700 illustrated in FIG. 7. For example, each of thesubscriber devices 102 and 122 may include a network interface, amemory, and a processor. As illustrated in FIG. 1, subscriber device 102includes a network interface 104, a processor 106, and a memory 110.Memory 110 includes program instructions that when executed by processor106 to implement one or more social media applications 112. Social mediaapplications 112 may include any of a variety of software applicationsthrough which individuals, communities and organizations can share,co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content or pre-madecontent posted online. Memory 110 also stores data representing a socialmedia history map key 114 for user 115. In various embodiments, socialmedia history map key 114 may be any type of information used in publickey cryptography or asymmetric cryptography systems. For example, socialmedia history map key 114 may be a string of alphanumeric charactersstored in a digital format, in some embodiments. In certain embodiments,the social media history map key 114 may be a shared ownershipvisibility key that allows followers of user 115 to view trend reportsor other information generated from data stored in distributedblockchain database 160 and representing online transactions for acluster of social media history map service subscribers that includesuser 115. The cluster of social media history map service subscribersmay also include one or more other users who follow, or are followed by,user 115 on one or more social media applications.

In the illustrated embodiment, subscriber device 122 includes a networkinterface 124, a processor 126, and a memory 130, which stores programinstructions to implement one or more social media applications 132 anda social media history map key 134 for user 125. In certain embodiments,subscriber device 122 may be the same type of device as subscriberdevice 102 and may include program instructions to implement one or moreof the same social media applications as those included in subscriberdevice 102. In other embodiments, subscriber device 122 may be adifferent type of device then subscriber device 102 and/or may includeprogram instructions to implement more, fewer, or different social mediaapplications than those included in subscriber device 102. Each of thesubscriber devices 102 and 122 may also include a user interface, suchas a display, a microphone, keypad, or other appropriate terminalequipment usable by a respective user (not shown in FIG. 1).

Network 135 facilitates communication between and amongst the variouscomponents of system 100. In various embodiments, network 135 may be anysuitable network operable to facilitate communication between thecomponents of system 100. Network 135 may include any interconnectingsystem capable of transmitting audio, video, signals, data, messages, orany combination of the preceding. Network 135 may include all or aportion of an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtualprivate network (“VPN”), a local area network (“LAN”), a wireless LAN(“WLAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), a wireless WAN (“WWAN”), ametropolitan area network (“MAN”), a portion of the Internet, a portionof the Public Switched Telephone Network (“PSTN”), a cellular telephonenetwork, including combinations thereof, operable to facilitatecommunication between the components. Network 135 may include one ormore wireline links (such as, for example, Digital Subscriber Line(“DSL)” or Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (“DOCSIS”)),wireless links (such as, for example, 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G cellular, Wi-Fi,or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (“WiMAX”)), oroptical links (such as, for example, Synchronous Optical Network(“SONET”) or Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (“SDH”)), includingcombinations thereof.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, social media history map platform 140 mayinclude a distributed blockchain database 160 and a transaction historycontroller 150. In certain embodiments, social media history mapplatform 140 may include one or more computing systems, an example ofwhich is illustrated in FIG. 7 and described below. The computingsystems may, collectively, implement a social media history map servicefor the benefit of one or more users, who may be subscribers to theservice. In certain embodiments, distributed blockchain database 160 maybe implemented as a decentralized and distributed digital ledger thatrecords transactions across many computers in such a way that theregistered transactions cannot be altered retroactively. For example,distributed blockchain database 160 may maintain one or morecontinuously growing lists of records, called blocks, that are securedfrom tampering and revision. Each block may include a timestamp and alink to a previous block in a list of blocks, forming a chain. Everyhead node or miner in the decentralized system may maintain a copy ofthe blockchain.

Similarly, an instance or a portion of a transaction history controller150 may be instantiated on each of multiple computing systems to managethe social media history map data forest stored in distributedblockchain database 160 and to generate trend reports based on thestored data in response to requests from users of system 100. In someembodiments, transaction history controller 150 may include a collectionof application programming interfaces (APIs), each of which isconfigured to accept secure input from a respective social mediaapplication or from social media applications that generate data in arespective format. For example, transaction history controller 150 mayinclude multiple sub-controllers to receive, or otherwise obtain, datafrom multiple social media applications representing online transactionsmade on behalf of a user, to process the data by extracting informationthat is of interest in the context of the social media history mapservice, to reformat the data for compatibility with distributedblockchain database 160, and to store the reformatted data as new blocksin the appropriate chains within distributed blockchain database 160.Reformatting the data received from different social media applicationsinto a consistent format for storage in distributed blockchain database160 may allow transaction history controller 150 to run one or moreservices to extract, aggregate, and/or analyze portions of the datastored in distributed blockchain database 160. Specific functions oftransaction history controller 150 are illustrated in FIGS. 3-6 anddescribed in more detail below.

Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to system 100 withoutdeparting from the scope of the disclosure. The various devices andcomponents within system 100 may be combined or separated. For example,one or more subscriber devices may be combined. As another example, thefunctionality of any one device described herein may be performed bymultiple devices. System 100 may include any number of users andsubscriber devices. Each user may be associated with a single subscriberdevice or a plurality of subscriber devices may be associated with asingle user. Any number of social media applications may be implementedby program instructions on any subscriber device for the benefit of auser of the subscriber device.

In certain embodiments, the social media history map platforms andservices described may be agnostic in terms of the social mediaapplications and/or platforms from which data representing onlinetransactions are obtained. In some embodiments, a user of a social mediahistory map service may sync their social media accounts to the service,which may allow all of the information in the feeds output by one ormore social media applications associated with the social media accountsto be channeled to the social media history map service automatically.The social media history map service may filter, extract, consolidate,or aggregate the information obtained from the social media feeds andmay store the information and/or the results of the filtering,extracting, consolidating, or aggregating in the distributed blockchaindatabase. In certain embodiments, the distributed blockchain databasemay serve as a universal database for information created or sharedusing multiple social media applications, but existing outside of, andseparate from, any of the social media applications.

As described herein, each subscriber to a social media history mapservice may be able to configure the visibility settings for the blocksthat contain data representing their online transactions. A givensubscriber may (for example, when registering a social media account)specify default visibility settings to be applied to their informationwhen it is stored in the distributed blockchain database. For example, adefault visibility parameter may specify a default granularity at whichdata within blocks representing online transactions of the givensubscriber that are stored in the distributed blockchain database isvisible by another subscriber that is followed by the given subscriber,followers of the other subscriber (other than the given subscriber), andfollowers of the given subscriber. In another example, a defaultvisibility parameter may indicate whether data stored on behalf of thegiven subscriber in the distributed blockchain database is visible tosubscribers in the cluster of subscribers other than the givensubscriber on an individual online transaction basis or is visible tosubscribers in the cluster of subscribers only in the aggregate, alongwith data stored in other blocks in the distributed blockchain database.In certain embodiments, the subscriber may (e.g., for certain socialmedia applications or certain types of online transactions) override anydefault visibility settings by specifying different visibility gradesfor some of their information on an individual block basis, or for anycollection of blocks in a chain or sub-chain associated with thesubscriber.

In certain embodiments, while ownership of the individual blocks of datarepresenting online transactions stored in the distributed blockchaindatabase remains with the original social media account owner, enhancedvisibility privileges may be transferred to their social media followerswho opt-in to the system, giving them access to online purchase andbehavior patterns in the form of trend data specific to their sharedsocial media cluster.

In certain embodiments, a social media account owner and their followersmay opt-in to an agreement that all their online transactions will beanonymized, aggregated, and classified by demographic classification,location and time. The result may be a system in which the term“trending topics” transcends the confines of generic population ofapplication users. For example, when a subscriber to a blockchain-basedsocial media history map service visits a shopping mall, the service maybe able to generate and deliver to the subscriber information about thetop ten trending purchases at the mall, the top ten trending purchasesat that mall for those who match the demographic classification of thesubscriber's social media cluster, or even the most popular itemspurchased at that location over the last week (or in general) by membersof the subscriber's social media cluster or by any individual that hasgiven the subscriber visibility rights to see their personal transactionprofile. In certain embodiments, this block chain transaction historymay be subject to data analytics so that targeted advertisements,marketing and other e-commerce offerings could be generated at agranularity not currently available.

In certain embodiments, the blockchain-based social media history mapservice may consider known demographic information for the subscriber,or for subscribers in a social media cluster, when generating trendreports. For example, in some embodiments, the service may have accessto profile information that a given subscriber has made public on one ormore of the social media applications associated with a social mediaaccount that the given subscriber has registered with the service. Inother embodiments, when a given subscriber registers with the service,they may be asked to provide demographic information that can be usedwhen filtering data to generate a trend report. The given subscribermight or might not be required to provide the requested information inorder to register with the service. However, in certain embodiments, anydemographic information that the given subscriber provides may be usedby the service for data mining operations or other purposes. Examples ofthe demographic information that may be obtained by a social mediahistory map service and used for data mining operations include age,gender, address information (e.g., city, state, region, or country ofresidency or of citizenship), political affiliation, religiousaffiliation, and/or any other information that may provide meaningfulinsights when used in filtering operations that generate trend reportsbased on online transaction information.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example schematic 200 for a social media historymap data forest, according to one embodiment. In the illustratedembodiment, a data forest head node 202 is linked to three primary headnodes (shown as head nodes 204, 206, and 208), each representing a headnode for a blockchain associated with a respective social media accountowner who has multiple followers.

In the illustrated example, data forest head node 202 represents theroot node for a particular data forest stored within a distributedblockchain database. The data forest may represent, for example, acollection of online transactions for one or more clusters ofsubscribers to a social media history map service. In some embodiments,data representing multiple data forests may be stored by a social mediahistory map service in the same distributed blockchain database. Inother embodiments, data representing each of multiple data forests maybe stored by a social media history map service in separate distributedblockchain databases on the same underlying hardware devices, ondifferent hardware devices, or on overlapping subsets of hardwaredevices.

In the illustrated example, the social media account owner associatedwith primary head node 204 has three followers, each of which isrepresented in the blockchain by a follower head node, such as followerhead node 212. The social media account owner associated with primaryhead node 206 has two followers, each of which is represented in theblockchain by a follower head node. The social media account ownerassociated with primary head node 208 has four followers, each of whichis represented in the blockchain by a follower head node.

In this example embodiment, each of the shaded blocks in the chains thatbegin with a primary head node represents a respective onlinetransaction for the social media account owner associated with theprimary head node. For example, shaded block 216 is the first block in achain of blocks representing online transactions for the social mediaaccount owner associated with primary head node 208. Each of theunshaded blocks in the chains that begin with a follower head noderepresents a respective online transaction for the social media accountowner associated with the follower head node. For example, unshadedblock 214 represents the first block in a chain of blocks representingonline transactions for the social media account owner associated withfollower head node 212.

In various embodiments, a social media history map data forest mayinclude more or fewer primary head nodes, each of which may be linked toany number of blocks representing online transactions for the socialmedia account owner associated with the primary head node. Each primaryhead node may also be linked to any number of follower head nodes, eachof which may be associated with a follower of the social media accountowner associated with the primary head node. Each follower head node maybe linked to any number of blocks representing online transactions forthe social media account owner associated with the follower head node.

While the follower head nodes 204, 206, and 208 in the example socialmedia history map data forest illustrated in FIG. 2 represent socialmedia account owners (or, more specifically, subscribers to a socialmedia history map service that follow another social media accountowner/subscriber) and the blocks represent online transactionsassociated with those subscribers, in other embodiments, the “followerhead nodes” may represent locations, events, activities, or instances ofother types of categories or abstractions by which blocks representingtransactions can be linked in the social media history map data forest.

In addition, while the social media history map data forest illustratedin FIG. 2 is depicted as a tree of chains, where each chain includeslinked blocks each representing a respective transaction, in otherembodiments, a social media history map data forest may be representedusing another topology, such as a mesh or web topology. In suchembodiments, each node may represent, for example, a person (e.g., asocial media history map service subscriber, a social media accountowner, or a social media account follower), a location, an event, anactivity, or an instance of another type of category or abstraction thatis associated with transactions of one or more transaction types.

As described in more detail herein, data representing a social mediahistory map data forest, such as the social media history map dataforest illustrated in FIG. 2, may be stored in a distributed blockchaindatabase (such as distributed blockchain database 160 illustrated inFIG. 1) and may be managed and mined by a transaction history controller(such as transaction history controller 150 illustrated in FIG. 1). Incertain embodiments, trend reports may be generated based on the wholedata forest in accordance with specified filtering parameters. Forexample, the entire data forest may be mined for anonymized andaggregated online transaction data by location, event type, subject,social cluster profile, and/or individual follower demographics, incertain embodiments. In some embodiments, configurable visibilitysettings may determine how visible the information on each branch is, onan individual block basis, to users whose data is stored on otherbranches or in other trees, such as users who are not members of thesame cluster of service subscribers.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example embodiment of a method 300for implementing a blockchain-based social media history map service. Incertain embodiments, method 300 may be implemented by system 100illustrated in FIG. 1.

In the illustrated embodiment, method 300 begins at step 302 by storing,in a distributed blockchain database, data representing a primary headnode for a first subscriber to a social media history map service andtwo or more blocks in a chain beginning from the primary head node. Eachblock may represent a respective online transaction for the firstsubscriber. The online transaction may indicate a shopping behavior, theposting of content, attendance at an event, the presence of the firstsubscriber at a particular location, or, in general, any type ofbehavior or activity of the first subscriber that is captured by asocial media application or by a utility application executing on asubscriber device.

The method includes, at 304, storing, in the blockchain database, datarepresenting a follower head node for a second subscriber, and two ormore blocks in a chain beginning from the follower head node, each blockrepresenting a respective online transaction for the second subscriber.In certain embodiments, the second subscriber may be a follower of thefirst subscriber, in which case the follower head node may be linked tothe primary head node in the distributed blockchain database.

Method 300 includes, at 306, a transaction history controller receiving,from a first social media application, data representing a first onlinetransaction for the second subscriber. In some embodiments, the datarepresenting the first online transaction may be received from the firstsocial media application in response to the initiation of a sync eventon a subscriber device of the second subscriber.

At 308, the method includes the transaction history controllerformatting the data representing a first online transaction forcompatibility with the distributed blockchain database. For example, thetwo or more blocks in the chain beginning from the follower head nodemay include blocks representing online transactions captured by two ormore social media applications, and the transaction history controllermay include a respective transaction formatter for formatting onlinetransactions captured by each of the two or more social mediaapplications.

Method 300 includes, at 310, storing the formatted data in thedistributed blockchain database as a first new block appended at the endof the chain beginning from the follower head node, the first new blockrepresenting the first online transaction. The method includes at 312,the transaction history controller receiving a request to generate atrend report for a cluster of subscribers to the social media historymap service, where the cluster includes the first subscriber and thesecond subscriber. Method 300 includes, at 314, the transaction historycontroller generating the requested trend report dependent on the blocksstored in the distributed blockchain database representing onlinetransactions for the cluster of subscribers to the social media historymap service.

Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to method 300depicted in FIG. 3. Method 300 may include more, fewer, or differentsteps than those illustrated in FIG. 3. While described in terms ofsubscribers to a social media history map service, in other embodiments,method 300 may be implemented in a social media history map service inwhich the primary head node and/or follower head nodes representlocations, events, activities, or instances of other types of categoriesor abstractions by which blocks representing transactions can be linkedin a social media history map data forest. While described above interms of specific components that complete the steps of method 300, anysuitable component of system 100 may perform any step of method 300.

In certain embodiments, once a social media account owner syncs theirsocial media accounts to a blockchain-based social history map service(as illustrated in FIG. 4 and described below), their followers may begiven the option of joining the blockchain-based social history mapservice (as illustrated in FIG. 5 and described below). The result mayallow the social media account owner and their followers to requestand/or receive trend data and other insights into the online behavior ofthe subscriber in their social media cluster (see FIG. 6). In someembodiments, the subscriber may have access to an anonymous aggregationof trend data over the entire social history map data forest, where datarepresenting online transactions for individual social media accountowners and their followers are visible only as aggregated by variousdemographic classifications.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example embodiment of a method 400for registering a social media account with a blockchain-based socialmedia history map service. In certain embodiments, method 400 may beimplemented by system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1.

In the illustrated embodiment, method 400 begins at step 402, with afirst social media account owner accessing a private social mediahistory blockchain maintained in a distributed blockchain database by asocial media history map service using a primary public key. Method 400includes, at 404, the first social media account owner inviting othersocial media account owners (e.g., followers of the first social mediaaccount owner) to join the social media history map service. Thistransaction may be added to the blockchain for the first social mediaaccount owner.

Method 400 includes, at 406, a follower accepting the invitation to jointhe social media history map service and submitting a request to thesocial media history map service to register one or more of their socialmedia accounts. In certain embodiments, the registration request mayspecify default visibility parameters for online transactions of thefollower. In one example, the default visibility parameters may includea default granularity at which data within blocks representing onlinetransactions of the follower that are stored in the distributedblockchain database is to be visible by the first social media accountowner, by followers of the first social media account owner, or byfollowers of the follower who has accepted the invitation request and isregistering to join the service. In another example, the defaultvisibility parameters may include an indication of whether data storedin the distributed blockchain database on behalf of the follower is tobe visible to users in the same social media cluster as the follower onan individual online transaction basis or only in the aggregate alongwith data stored in other blocks in the distributed blockchain database.Note that, in some cases, none of the followers of the first socialmedia account accept the invitation to join the social media history mapservice, instead choosing to opt-out of the service (not shown).

Method 400 includes, at 408, a transaction history controller creating,in the distributed blockchain database, a new branch off the head nodeof the social media history blockchain of the first account owner forthe follower, including a follower head node for the new follower'sbranch that is linked to the head node of the social media historyblockchain of the first account owner.

The method includes, at 410, the transaction history controllergenerating a secondary public key for the follower to be used as ashared ownership visibility key for accessing trend information based onthe blocks stored in the distributed blockchain database.

Method 400 includes, at 412, the transaction history controllerreturning the secondary public key to the follower as confirmation thatthe follower's social media accounts are registered. This may allowblocks representing future online transactions for the follower to beappended to the end of the follower's blockchain branch. In addition,any future online transactions for which blocks are added to the chainfor the first account owner may be visible to the follower. In certainembodiments, after the follower's social media accounts are registers,when a block representing an online transaction for the follower, thefirst account owner, or another follower of the first account owner isadded to the appropriate chain in the distributed blockchain database,the users in the social media circle may receive a push notification. Inother embodiments, when a block containing data representing an onlinetransaction for the follower, the first account owner, or anotherfollower of the first account owner is added to the appropriate chain inthe distributed blockchain database, there may not be a pushnotification to the users in the social media circle. However, the datarepresenting the online transaction may be incorporated into thecollective knowledge maintained by the social media history map service,where it may affect the results of subsequently generated trend reports.

Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to method 400depicted in FIG. 4. Method 400 may include more, fewer, or differentsteps than those illustrated in FIG. 4. While described above in termsof specific components that complete the steps of method 400, anysuitable component of system 100 may perform any step of method 400.

As described above, the social media history map platforms and servicesdescribed herein may integrate blockchain transaction data accumulationinto social media feeds. In certain embodiments, existing blockchaintransaction metadata may be enhanced and extended to include one or moreof the following fields.

Location: this field may include data indicating a location at which anonline transaction took place or another location associated with anonline transaction. For example, when the online transaction is ashopping event, the data in this field may indicate the location of theuser on whose behalf the online transaction occurred when the onlinetransaction occurred. In another example, when the online transaction isattendance by the user at an event, the data in this field may indicatethe location of the event. In yet another embodiment, this field mayindicate location information with which a social media feed wasautomatically tagged by a social media application on which an onlinetransaction occurred or by a utility application executing on asubscriber device.

Visibility grade: this field may include data indicating one or morevisibility settings with which the online transaction data was tagged bythe social media history map service. The value of this field may bedependent on a default visibility setting that was specified by the user(e.g., when registering a social media account with the social mediahistory map service) and/or by a visibility setting that was specifiedby the user for an individual block to be stored in the distributedblockchain database or for any collection of blocks in a chain orsub-chain associated with the user, as described herein.

Event type: this field may include data indicating the type of acaptured online transaction. In certain embodiments, this field mayindicate an event type with which online transaction data was tagged bythe social media history map service. In other embodiments, this fieldmay indicate event type information with which a social media feed wasautomatically tagged by a social media application on which an onlinetransaction occurred or by a utility application executing on asubscriber device. In some embodiments, the social media history mapservice may define a default set of event types with which onlinetransaction data may (optionally) be tagged. For example, a default setof event types may include one or more of the following event types:purchase, comment, activity, and attendance. In certain embodiments, theevent type may be determined from the online transaction data from asocial media application. In certain embodiments, in addition to defaultevent systems, a user or administrator of the social media history mapservice, or the user associated with a head node in the distributedblockchain database, may define, and tag particular blocks in theirchain with, a subtype or archetype that is more specific to theirinterests. However, if these blocks are also tagged with a default eventtype, this may provide backward compatibility with existing data miningoperations and services.

Subject: this field may include data representing other types of tags orsearch terms that can be used as filtering parameters in subsequentmining operations. In certain embodiments, this field may include acomment field into which a user, through a social media application or autility application executing on a subscriber device, can add notes thatmay or may not be visible to users in the same social media circle orother users of the service.

Rating: this field may include data representing vote counts (e.g.,number of positive or negative votes), or any type of rating informationwith which online transaction data was tagged by a social mediaapplication or a utility application executing on a subscriber device.In certain embodiments, this information may be used as a filteringparameter during data mining operations.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example embodiment of a method 500for collecting social media histories from social media history mapservice subscribers. In certain embodiments, method 500 may beimplemented by system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1.

Method 500 begins at step 502, where an online transaction is effectedon a follower's endpoint device. The method includes, at 504, thefollower's endpoint device capturing transaction information, includingmetadata associated with the online transaction, the follower, or thefollower's endpoint device. For example, the metadata information mayinclude one or more of the following: location information associatedwith the first online transaction, a visibility grade associated withthe first online transaction, an event type associated with the firstonline transaction, a subject associated with the first onlinetransaction, and rating information associated with the first onlinetransaction. In the illustrated example, method 500 includes, at 506,pushing the captured transaction information and metadata to the socialmedia history map service through a portal to the service, along withthe follower's secondary public key.

Method 500 includes, at 508, the transaction history controllerformatting the captured transaction information and, if necessary, theassociated metadata, for compatibility with the distributed blockchaindatabase. For example, the transaction history controller may include arespective transaction formatter for formatting online transactionscaptured by each of multiple social media applications, or bycollections social media applications that capture online transactiondata having different formats. The method includes, at 510, thetransaction history controller storing the formatted transactioninformation and metadata in the distributed blockchain, which includesappending a new block to the follower's blockchain branch.

Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to method 500depicted in FIG. 5. Method 500 may include more, fewer, or differentsteps than those illustrated in FIG. 5. While described above in termsof specific components that complete the steps of method 500, anysuitable component of system 100 may perform any step of method 500.

In certain embodiments, social media history map service subscribers mayinteract with the social media history map platforms and servicesdescribed herein through a dedicated portal to the social media historymap service. For example, the social media history map service mayinclude a web-based portal through which users may subscribe to theservice, register one or more social media accounts, specify default orspecific visibility parameters, or submit requests for and receive trendreports. In certain embodiments, the social media history map servicemay include a user interface portal that supports a rich collection ofservice options for use on full-featured subscriber devices, includingadvanced filtering options for generating trend reports for veryspecific contexts. In certain embodiments, the social media history mapservice may include a lighter version of the user interface portal foruse on various mobile subscriber devices.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example embodiment of a method 600for generating and publishing trend data by a blockchain-based socialmedia history map service. In certain embodiments, method 600 may beimplemented by system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1.

Method 600 begins at step 602, with a transaction history controllerreceiving a request to generate a trend report for a cluster ofsubscribers to a social media history map service. The cluster ofsubscribers may include a social media account owner and one or morefollowers of the social media account owner. The request may specifyfiltering parameters for online transaction metadata or demographicinformation. For example, the filtering parameters may be dependent onmetadata stored in blocks within chains for subscribers in the clusterof subscribers or on demographic information for subscribers in thecluster of subscribers. In certain embodiments, the request may bereceived from a member of the cluster. The request may include a primaryor secondary public key, as described herein.

Method 600 includes, at 604, the transaction history controller mining adistributed blockchain database that stores online transactioninformation and associated metadata in respective blockchains for eachsubscriber in the cluster. The mining may be dependent on the filteringparameters that were specified in the request. The method includes, atstep 606, the transaction history controller generating the requestedtrend report using the information obtained by the mining, andoutputting the trend report for the benefit of the requestor.

Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to method 600depicted in FIG. 6. Method 600 may include more, fewer, or differentsteps than those illustrated in FIG. 6. While described above in termsof specific components that complete the steps of method 600, anysuitable component of system 100 may perform any step of method 600.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of acomputing system 700 for implementing a blockchain-based social mediahistory map service. In certain embodiments, computing system 700 may beone of multiple computing systems that collectively implement ablockchain-based social media history map platform. In otherembodiments, computing system 700 may be a subscriber device, such assubscriber devices 102 and 122, through which a user or a user's socialmedia applications interact with a blockchain-based social media historymap service.

In this example embodiment, computing system 700 includes one or moreprocessors 710-1-710-N (collectively, “processors 710”). Each ofprocessors 710 may include any electronic circuitry or logic tointerpret or execute program instructions and/or to process data. Forexample, each processor 710 may include a microprocessor,microcontroller, digital signal processor (DSP), graphics processor,application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and/or a state machine,in different embodiments. In some embodiments, processors 710 mayinterpret and/or execute program instructions and/or process data storedlocally in memory subsystem 720 or remotely (not shown).

Processors 710 may implement any instruction set architecture (ISA), indifferent embodiments. In some embodiments, all of the processors 710may implement the same ISA. In other embodiments, two or more ofprocessors 710 may implement different ISAs. Any one or more ofprocessors 710 may be 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit processors orprocessor of any other suitable architecture. Any one or more ofprocessors 710 may include an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) for performingarithmetic and logic operations, processor registers that supplyoperands to the ALU and store the results of ALU operations, and acontrol unit that fetches instructions from memory subsystem 720 andexecutes them by directing the coordinated operations of the ALU,registers and other components. Any one or more of processors 710 mayinclude other hardware and software that operates to control and processinformation. Any one or more of processors 710 may execute software(shown as program instructions 730) stored in memory subsystem 720 toperform any of the functions described herein. Any one or more ofprocessors may control the operation and administration of the device byprocessing information received from network 135 and/or any suitablecomponent of system 100. Any one or more of processors may be aprogrammable logic device, a microcontroller, a microprocessor, anysuitable processing device, or any suitable combination of thepreceding. In certain embodiments, computing system 700 may include onlya single processor 710.

Processors 710 are coupled to a memory subsystem 720 and an input/outputsubsystem 750 via a system interface 715. System interface 715 mayimplement any of a variety of suitable bus architectures and protocolsincluding, but not limited to, a Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus,Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus,Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, PCI-Express bus, or aHyperTransport (HT) bus.

Memory subsystem 720 may store, either permanently or temporarily, data,operational software, or other information for processors 710. Memorysubsystem 720 may include a computer-readable non-transitory storagemedium, in some embodiments. Memory subsystem 720 may include any one ora combination of volatile or non-volatile local or remote devicessuitable for storing information. For example, memory subsystem 720 mayinclude random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electricallyerasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, magneticstorage, opto-magnetic storage, and/or any other type of volatile ornon-volatile memory. In some embodiments, memory subsystem 720 mayinclude computer-readable media, e.g., a hard disk drive, floppy diskdrive, CD-ROM, and/or other type of rotating storage media, and/oranother type of solid state storage media.

In the example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, memory subsystem 720includes program instructions 730, including program instructions thatwhen executed by one or more of the processors 710 implement some or allof the methods described herein for providing a blockchain-based socialmedia history map service. As shown in the illustrated example, programinstructions 730 may include program instructions for implementing oneor more operating system 732, a transaction history controller 734, adistributed blockchain database application 736, and one or more otherapplications or services, shown as 738. In the example embodimentillustrated in FIG. 7, data storage 740 may include storage for adistributed blockchain database (shown as 745) and storage for one ormore operating systems, applications, or services (shown as 755). Forexample, data storage 740 may store data representing a social mediahistory map data forest, including one or more primary head nodes, oneor more follower head nodes, and a plurality of blocks each representingan online transaction, such as in the example data forest illustrated inFIG. 2. In another example, data storage 740 may include storage for oneor more private or public keys, such as the shared ownership visibilitykeys described herein.

In the example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, input/output subsystem750 may implement any of a variety of digital and/or analogcommunication interfaces, graphics interfaces, video interfaces, userinput interfaces, and/or peripheral interfaces for communicativelycoupling input/output devices or other remote devices to the componentsof computing system 700, such as one or more input/output devices 760.

Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to computing system700 without departing from the scope of the disclosure. For example, invarious embodiments, computing system 700 may include any number ofprocessors 710, memory subsystems 720, interfaces 715, and/orinput/output subsystems 750. In different embodiments, computing system700 may include some, none, or all of the components illustrated in FIG.7.

As described herein, a social media history map platform may include atransaction history controller configured to store, in a distributedblockchain database, a first chain including data representing a primaryhead node for a first subscriber to a social media history map serviceand multiple blocks each representing an online transaction for thefirst subscriber, and a second chain including data representing afollower head node for a second subscriber, the follower head node beinglinked to the primary head node, and multiple blocks each representingan online transaction for the second subscriber. The transaction historycontroller may receive, data representing a first online transaction forthe second subscriber, format the data for compatibility with thedistributed blockchain database, store the formatted data as new blockin the second chain, receive a request to generate a trend report for acluster of subscribers that includes first subscriber and the secondsubscriber, and generate the trend report dependent on the blocks in thefirst and second chains.

In certain embodiments, the systems described herein may provide userswith a platform-agnostic, almost universal distributed blockchaindatabase that consolidates social media from multiple feeds and multipledevices. These systems may also provide the ability to analyze andprovide insights gleaned from this information in a real-time manner tocreate rich, multidimensional profiles of clusters of social mediaaccount owners and followers and to be able to create a marketingpersona for those social media clusters. For example, data mining andanalysis may be performed not only at the level of an entire data foreststored in a distributed blockchain database, but also for particularsocial media clusters of social media account owners and followers,which may facilitate the discovery trends and patterns within theserelationships.

In certain embodiments, the social media history map platforms describedherein may interact with the servers that provide the various socialmedia applications and services from which online transaction data iscaptured for storage in the distributed blockchain database. In somesuch embodiments, service level agreements between the social mediahistory map service and these social media services may allow the socialmedia history map service to obtain online transaction data from thesocial media services rather than by intercepting social media feeds.

Herein, “or” is inclusive and not exclusive, unless expressly indicatedotherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Therefore, herein, “A or B”means “A, B, or both,” unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicatedotherwise by context. Moreover, “and” is both joint and several, unlessexpressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.Therefore, herein, “A and B” means “A and B, jointly or severally,”unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.

The scope of this disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions,variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodimentsdescribed or illustrated herein that a person having ordinary skill inthe art would comprehend. The scope of this disclosure is not limited tothe example embodiments described or illustrated herein. Moreover,although this disclosure describes and illustrates respectiveembodiments herein as including particular components, elements,functions, operations, or steps, any of these embodiments may includeany combination or permutation of any of the components, elements,functions, operations, or steps described or illustrated anywhere hereinthat a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend.Furthermore, reference in the appended claims to an apparatus or systemor a component of an apparatus or system being adapted to, arranged to,capable of, configured to, enabled to, operable to, or operative toperform a particular function encompasses that apparatus, system,component, whether or not it or that particular function is activated,turned on, or unlocked, as long as that apparatus, system, or componentis so adapted, arranged, capable, configured, enabled, operable, oroperative.

1. A system comprising: a distributed blockchain database; and at leastone processor having access to a memory subsystem, wherein the memorysubsystem stores instructions executable by the at least one processorthat, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at leastone processor to perform operations comprising storing, in thedistributed blockchain database, data representing a primary head nodefor a first subscriber to a social media history map service, whereintwo or more blocks in a first chain begin from the primary head node,and wherein each block in the first chain represents a respective onlinetransaction for the first subscriber, storing, in the distributedblockchain database, data presenting a follower head node for a secondsubscriber to the social media history map service, wherein the secondsubscriber is a follower of the first subscriber on one or more socialmedia platforms, wherein the follower head node is linked to the primaryhead node, wherein two or more blocks in a second chain begin from thefollower head node, and wherein each block in the second chainrepresents a respective online transaction for the second subscriber,receiving, from a first social media application, data representing afirst online transaction associated with the second subscriber, andstoring the data representing the first online transaction associatedwith the second subscriber in the distributed blockchain database as afirst new block appended to the end of the second chain, wherein thefirst new block represents the first online transaction associated withthe second subscriber.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operationsfurther comprise generating, in response to a request to generate atrend report for a cluster of subscribers to the social media historymap service, the trend report dependent on the blocks in the first chainand the blocks in the second chain, wherein the cluster of subscribersincludes at least the first subscriber and the second subscriber.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the two or more blocks in the second chainrepresent online transactions captured by two or more social mediaapplications.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations furthercomprise: receiving, from a second social media application, datarepresenting a second online transaction associated with the secondsubscriber; and storing the data representing the second onlinetransaction in the distributed blockchain database as a second new blockappended at the end of the second chain, the second new block beinglinked to the first new block, and the second new block representing thesecond online transaction.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the datarepresenting the first online transaction is received from the firstsocial media application in response to initiation of a sync event on asubscriber device of the second subscriber.
 6. The system of claim 1,wherein the data representing the first online transaction comprisesmetadata associated with the first online transaction.
 7. The system ofclaim 6, wherein the metadata comprises one or more of the following:location information associated with the first online transaction, avisibility grade associated with the first online transaction, an eventtype associated with the first online transaction, a subject associatedwith the first online transaction, or rating information associated withthe first online transaction.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein theoperations further comprise: receiving, prior to receiving the datarepresenting the first online transaction, a request associated with thesecond subscriber to register a social media account of the secondsubscriber with the social media history map service, the social mediaaccount being associated with one or more social media applications thatinclude the first social media application; and generating a sharedownership visibility key for the second subscriber, wherein the sharedownership visibility key allows the second subscriber to view encryptedmetadata associated with the first online transaction.
 9. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the request specifies default visibility parameters foronline transactions of the second subscriber, the default visibilityparameters comprising a default granularity at which data within blocksrepresenting the online transactions of the second subscriber that arestored in the distributed blockchain database is visible by one or moreof the first subscriber, followers of the first subscriber other thanthe second subscriber, and followers of the second subscriber.
 10. Thesystem of claim 8, wherein the request specifies default visibilityparameters for online transactions of the second subscriber, the defaultvisibility parameters comprising an indication of whether the datastored in the first new block in the distributed blockchain database isvisible to subscribers in a cluster of subscribers other than the secondsubscriber on an individual online transaction basis or is visible tothe subscribers in the cluster of subscribers other than the secondsubscriber only in the aggregate along with data stored in other blocksin the distributed blockchain database.
 11. A method comprising:storing, by a system, in a distributed blockchain database, datarepresenting a primary head node for a first subscriber to a socialmedia history map service, wherein two or more blocks in a first chainbegin from the primary head node, and wherein each block in the firstchain represents a respective online transaction for the firstsubscriber; storing, by the system, in the distributed blockchaindatabase, data presenting a follower head node for a second subscriberto the social media history map service, wherein the second subscriberis a follower of the first subscriber on one or more social mediaplatforms, wherein the follower head node is linked to the primary headnode, wherein two or more blocks in a second chain begin from thefollower head node, and wherein each block in the second chainrepresents a respective online transaction for the second subscriber;receiving, by the system, from a first social media application, datarepresenting a first online transaction associated with the secondsubscriber; and storing, by the system, the data representing the firstonline transaction associated with the second subscriber in thedistributed blockchain database as a first new block appended to the endof the second chain, wherein the first new block represents the firstonline transaction associated with the second subscriber.
 12. The methodof claim 11, further comprising generating, in response to a request togenerate a trend report for a cluster of subscribers to the social mediahistory map service, the trend report dependent on the blocks in thefirst chain and the blocks in the second chain, wherein the cluster ofsubscribers includes at least the first subscriber and the secondsubscriber.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the two or more blocksin the second chain represent online transactions captured by two ormore social media applications.
 14. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: receiving, from a second social media application, datarepresenting a second online transaction associated with the secondsubscriber; and storing the data representing the second onlinetransaction in the distributed blockchain database as a second new blockappended at the end of the second chain, the second new block beinglinked to the first new block, and the second new block representing thesecond online transaction.
 15. The method of claim 11, wherein the datarepresenting the first online transaction is received from the firstsocial media application in response to initiation of a sync event on asubscriber device of the second subscriber.
 16. The method of claim 11,wherein the data representing the first online transaction comprisesmetadata associated with the first online transaction, and wherein themetadata comprises one or more of the following: location informationassociated with the first online transaction, a visibility gradeassociated with the first online transaction, an event type associatedwith the first online transaction, a subject associated with the firstonline transaction, or rating information associated with the firstonline transaction.
 17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:receiving, prior to receiving the data representing the first onlinetransaction, a request associated with the second subscriber to registera social media account of the second subscriber with the social mediahistory map service, the social media account being associated with oneor more social media applications that include the first social mediaapplication; and generating a shared ownership visibility key for thesecond subscriber, wherein the shared ownership visibility key allowsthe second subscriber to view encrypted metadata associated with thefirst online transaction.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein therequest specifies default visibility parameters for online transactionsof the second subscriber, the default visibility parameters comprising adefault granularity at which data within blocks representing the onlinetransactions of the second subscriber that are stored in the distributedblockchain database is visible by one or more of the first subscriber,followers of the first subscriber other than the second subscriber, andfollowers of the second subscriber.
 19. The method of claim 17, whereinthe request specifies default visibility parameters for onlinetransactions of the second subscriber, the default visibility parameterscomprising an indication of whether the data stored in the first newblock in the distributed blockchain database is visible to subscribersin a cluster of subscribers other than the second subscriber on anindividual online transaction basis or is visible to the subscribers inthe cluster of subscribers other than the second subscriber only in theaggregate along with data stored in other blocks in the distributedblockchain database.
 20. At least one non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium for storing instructions that, when executed by at leastone processor of a system, cause the system to perform operationscomprising: storing, in a distributed blockchain database, datarepresenting a primary head node for a first subscriber to a socialmedia history map service, wherein two or more blocks in a first chainbegin from the primary head node, and wherein each block in the firstchain represents a respective online transaction for the firstsubscriber; storing, in the distributed blockchain database, datapresenting a follower head node for a second subscriber to the socialmedia history map service, wherein the second subscriber is a followerof the first subscriber on one or more social media platforms, whereinthe follower head node is linked to the primary head node, wherein twoor more blocks in a second chain begin from the follower head node, andwherein each block in the second chain represents a respective onlinetransaction for the second subscriber; receiving, from a social mediaapplication, data representing an online transaction associated with thesecond subscriber; and storing the data representing the onlinetransaction associated with the second subscriber in the distributedblockchain database as a new block appended to the end of the secondchain, wherein the new block represents the online transactionassociated with the second subscriber.